Well, good camp but money grab and as far as receiving invite as a badge of honor "congrats". However many peaking at this age have hit puberty early and stand out amongst other things. Good luck
During the early recruiting era, this camp was a "must do". Feels like more of a D3 camp now. Good way to get seen by a lot of coaches at once but exorbitantly expensive.
I agree these things are all about if you are from a hot bed area and do you play for a top 20 travel club. If the answer is yes and yes for sure not worth the money. If the answer is no and no you might want to see if you can afford it. And my advise from a 2019 D2 top 10 commit player. Is to find a level of play first. The sooner you lock in on what level your son should or wants to play the easier the where to go answers come. This is a lot harder now because of the Sept Jr. year rule. But still the most important question to get answered ASAP. 1. What level can he play? 2. What level will he play as a freshman or will it take up till Sr. year to play? 3. What level of Academics must he have? You will be paying something so this is huge no full rides in lacrosse. 4. Will your son work for years to get playing time? Does he have to touch field Freshman year? 5. How far away from home can he play? 6. Does he have to play a certain position or will he do anything to hit the field?
Other people with kids in college please add to these questions to help these dads of 9th grade ballers.
So it's your opinion that if a kid plays for a top 20 club and or attends a HS with a perennial lacrosse program that doing show cases like blue chip are a total waste of time and money? Aren't these the only kids they extend invites to?
The bigger question. At what point does a kid want to start getting his name out there? It's a small community and people talk..coaches, parents, kids. With this event being held in Baltimore there must be some influential folks attending who will get the word started about the kids that attend...whether it's great, good or indifferent right?
Ok let me change my quote, I would not say its a full waste of money for the kids from Top 20 club teams and hot bed areas. I was just saying they will get seen with or without a camp/showcase like this for this kind of cost. But I am 99% sure if you want to go to this event and you have your high school coach reach out to this event they will take your money. They might contact you the week before the event but they will take your money. These events allways start with the best of the best but they never hit the full number with this first round of invites. If you want to be there you can get your son in this event. As for your second question. If your son plays in a event like this and looks fully over matched it could hurt him mentally in the long run. But to counter that thought the coahes do try to stick to finding the best players not crossing off the worst players. So it could be a way to let your boy see where he lines up, if you are from a non hot bed area. This goes back to my point above, events like this can help you find the correct level of play for your son. If he stands out as a star go the top D1 path. If he just holds his own but does not look like a star. He is low D1 to top D3. If he looks over matched and lost get tons of one on one work for him then come back next year. Everyone tries to make it harder then it really is. Use the old EYE test and you will know who is a stud and who is not.
